“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME”, says JESUS (Ref. Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18): HOLY
WEEK REFLECTION 2022
By Celes A. Gianan, DD, PhD
Greetings and blessings, Brothers. May I humbly share this reflection as we continue our Lenten journey and go through Holy Week 2022.
Realization 1. When Jesus says “The Spirit of the Lord is UPON Me”, He claims, thus, “The Spirit of the Lord is not a MERE PART of me”. There is a BIG difference between saying “UPON ME” and “PART OF ME”.
The term “UPON ME” demonstrates that the Spirit of the Lord has FULL AND TOTAL DOMINION over the life of Jesus and He could not but be FULLY AND TOTALLY SUBMISSIVE to the AUTHORITY of the Spirit of God.
Whereas the term “PART OF ME” indicates that the Spirit of God has NO FULL AND TOTAL DOMINION over the life of Jesus for it is just a part and a part has no full and total say over the whole as the common dictum says “The part is not greater than the whole”.
Realization 2. As Jesus began His PUBLIC MINISTRY, He made a DECLARATION through which He made it clear that THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WAS UPON HIM. He made it clear that the SPIRIT OF THE LORD has DOMINION OVER HIM. Thus, what Jesus was clearly saying was that the SPIRITUAL is NOT a MERE DIMENSION of His life. Rather, the SPIRITUAL has DOMINION OVER His life.
Realization 3. In Jesus’ Baptism, the Holy Scriptures narrated to us that when Jesus was baptized the Heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and a voice from Heaven came out and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Ref. Luke 3: 21ff.). This clearly manifests that the life of Jesus was HOVERED OVER by the Spirit of God and was fully and totally graced by God’s voice, saying, “You are My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased”. The SPIRITUAL is not something that is pointedly located or contained in the life of Jesus but it contains the whole life of Jesus which made Jesus the beloved Son of God in whom God Himself is well pleased.
Realization 4. During our Baptism, the very one and the same Spirit of God which descended upon Jesus, was also that same Spirit of God that descended upon us with a voice telling us, “You are My beloved son or daughter”. This Spirit contained us. It is not contained in us.
Realization 5. Hence, in our Christian life, it is a BIG MISTAKE to believe that the SPIRITUAL is a MERE DIMENSION as if the SPIRITUAL is on the same level as those of other dimensions in life, such as, the social, political, economic, cultural, ecological, industrial, and others. It is a BIG MISTAKE to believe that the SPIRITUAL is a MERE PART of our human existence as if it is one of the contents of human life.
Falling into these BIG MISTAKES is a WORST INSULT we are doing to our great God, who from the very beginning of our existence has breathed into us His BREATH OF LIFE, His SPIRIT, thereby, having made us LIVING HUMAN BEINGS.
Falling into these BIG MISTAKES is a WORST INSULT we are doing to our Risen Lord who, being our RESURRECTION and LIFE, has given us His HOLY SPIRIT, the very one and the same Holy Spirit that He has given to His disciples when He appeared to them after He had risen from the dead.
Acts 1:8 powerfully speaks to us, saying, “But you will receive POWER when the HOLY SPIRIT has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The SPIRIT OF GOD as it CONTAINS us equips us with POWER that will make us and become WITNESSES of the Lord in ALL PLACES and AT ALL TIMES for ALL PEOPLES to see His FAITHFULNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS and GOODNESS.
Brethren, Believers in God and Lovers of the Church, NOW is high time to change our belief and stand by and for it if only to come to terms with God and get closer to Him.
Thus, believe, brethren, that the SPIRITUAL is NOT A MERE DIMENSION OF OUR HUMAN LIFE. Rather, the SPIRITUAL has DOMINION OVER OUR HUMAN LIFE.
That, the SPIRIT OF THE LORD is NOT A MERE PART OF US. Rather, the SPIRIT OF THE LORD is UPON US hovering over our HUMAN EXISTENCE, covering and protecting us from forces destructive of our CHRISTIAN LIFE. The SPIRIT OF THE LORD is UPON US empowering us to THINK of what is RIGHT, TREASURE that which is RIGHT, and DO THINGS RIGHT.
The SPIRIT OF GOD contains us. It is not contained in us. The SPIRITUAL contains us. It is not contained in us. This SPIRIT OF GOD contained and sustained Jesus on His way to Calvary as He went through His sufferings and passion, crucifixion, death and unto His resurrection. And having appeared to His disciples after He had risen from the dead, He breathed on them and told them, saying, “RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT” (John 20:22). Assuredly, the SPIRIT OF GOD contains and sustains us in life and in our ministry. May Holy Week 2022 inspire us to cry and live out, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON US”.
God loves us all. – Bishop Celes